Quote:Actually a proper Unicorn should be half goat, half horse. It should have the size and body type of a horse, but beard, tail and hooves like a goat.

Ofc this is not the way they have to be, but imo it's the coolest and most classic way.

Actually not, the most classical form is:...Ctesias who described them as wild asses, fleet of foot, having a horn a cubit and a half in length and colored white, red and black.
That was in ~398 BC. Their having a goat-like form wasn't mentioned until the middle ages.

yeah yeah but their medieval-version is still cooler then just a "horse with horn".
That goat-like features has always been something I have associated with the Unicorn. Maybe it's just me, but they actually had those features in Heroes II & III.

Of course it is pretty much impossible to say how the first or the most classic unicorn or any creature for that matter looks, since it's always hard to know the "first" source.
Anyways cool with the colored horns that the unicorns in Ctesias version had

Over the years i have come to hate pretty much any human-like race/faction, that seems to be in every game these days. Could be, that it is the MMO's fault, since they always seem to include at least humans and elves and sometimes even dwarves and orcs. I really don't understand why thay have to be included each and every time, is it tradition? If so, then srew tradition. Another thing that usually gets my blood boiling is the stereotypes. Can someone explain to me, why eleves USUALLY have to be somewhat gifted in the use of magic? Or why humans are "average" in every way of either might or magic. Why Dwarves seem to be resistant to magic? Or why orcs tend to favour might over magic?

I could propably also say something about the demons, but it is not as often, that we get to play one of the evil factions/demons in any game these days. Could also be me, who is generally sick and tired of always playing as a human in every single game on either pc or console. Why is it, that game developers only think humans can empathize with other humans? Give me some sort of beast or demon to play as!

These are primary reason to why i like War Wind. 4 races, none of them human, elves, dwarves or orcs. You can even find the full game free for download by using google, it may be old but the style and nice sprites make it totally worth the google search.

This sounds pretty good.. Unfortunately I prefer turn over real time based.

I believe it's about avoiding to alienate the fans. A few creatures swapping sides was never a big deal but the series has established some 'core' factions and fan favourites which are not easy to just dismiss.
____________DON'T BE A NOOB, JOIN A.D.V.E.N.T.U.R.E.

Quote:yeah yeah but their medieval-version is still cooler then just a "horse with horn".

Yeah right, you know most of that 'horse with a horn' artwork is from the middle ages right?

Quote:Of course it is pretty much impossible to say how the first or the most classic unicorn or any creature for that matter looks, since it's always hard to know the "first" source.

Well Ctesias was the first 'western' author to actually mention it, so I guess we can use that. Of course the 'horse with a horn' was quickly dismissed by Aristotle, who described:...two one-horned animals, the oryx (a kind of antelope) and the so-called "Indian ass".
Pliny the Elder mentions:...the oryx and an Indian ox (perhaps a rhinoceros) as one-horned beasts, as well as "a very fierce animal called the monoceros which has the head of the stag, the feet of the elephant, and the tail of the boar, while the rest of the body is like that of the horse; it makes a deep lowing noise, and has a single black horn, which projects from the middle of its forehead, two cubits in length.

Those classical authors sure had some imagination.

Quote:Over the years i have come to hate pretty much any human-like race/faction, that seems to be in every game these days. Could be, that it is the MMO's fault, since they always seem to include at least humans and elves and sometimes even dwarves and orcs. I really don't understand why thay have to be included each and every time, is it tradition? If so, then srew tradition. Another thing that usually gets my blood boiling is the stereotypes. Can someone explain to me, why eleves USUALLY have to be somewhat gifted in the use of magic? Or why humans are "average" in every way of either might or magic. Why Dwarves seem to be resistant to magic? Or why orcs tend to favour might over magic?

I could propably also say something about the demons, but it is not as often, that we get to play one of the evil factions/demons in any game these days. Could also be me, who is generally sick and tired of always playing as a human in every single game on either pc or console. Why is it, that game developers only think humans can empathize with other humans? Give me some sort of beast or demon to play as!

Well in our case I think it has a lot to do with artefacts, selecting a bunch of humanoids allow them to use a single 'rag doll' for artefact placement rather than having to develop a 'rag doll' for each race, which would play hell with the balance. I completely agree with you though, lots of nearly human races gets tiring very quickly.

Don't get me started on demons. Red with sharp bits! (ok, that was a bit of an exaggeration...)
Still, if we're talking about terrain and factions, I think it might be interesting to see what happened if you switched the terrain of factions. How would demons look like if Sheogh was a green forest? How would elves look (and what creatures would they associate with) if they lived in a volcanic environment? I think it might be an interesting twist to keep the faction philosophy, but throw them in a different environment.

I note that all the Necropolis upgrades have some sort of added hairpiece, made of obsidian (I think). Does that mean Necromancy works like wireless, and you need a better antenna to control upgraded creatures? Is that what Holy Word does? Block the reception?

Quote:Yeah right, you know most of that 'horse with a horn' artwork is from the middle ages right?

Orly? Just search Medieval Unicorn on google and you will find that nearly all of the unicorns you find have goat features. (yes awesome detective skills I know)
(and plz note that I referring to medieval-art not Baroque or something like that.)
____________"You turn me on Jaba"
- Meroe

Quote:Orly? Just search Medieval Unicorn on google and you will find that nearly all of the unicorns you find have goat features. (yes awesome detective skills I know)
(and plz note that I referring to medieval-art not Baroque or something like that.)

And just what would you count as 'goat features'? All the ones I saw had long legs (like a horse) and flowing manes (like a horse).

Im not sure if the Dark Elves in H5 are more genetic diverse from the Sylvan elves. But so far as I see it they just have another skin tone/color. Or was it that they got a paler tan and red eyes due to living underground for a while and/or be influenced by the dragon god of Darkness?
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Im not sure if the Dark Elves in H5 are more genetic diverse from the Sylvan elves. But so far as I see it they just have another skin tone/color. Or was it that they got a paler tan and red eyes due to living underground for a while and/or be influenced by the dragon god of Darkness?

1. knights existed only in europe during middle ages, there werent any non white knights LOL
2. creators of the game are white, they make the game in their image its not that hard to understand that, did u not notice what are the main names of the heroes ? all sound slavic to me
3. im pretty sure 99.3% of the ppl wouldnt mind if knights faction didnt even exist
4. elves are a nice faction, the sooner u accept that the sooner your life goes back to being peachy LOL

probably the biggest complaint i had with H5 is playing a map thats large or bigger. the waiting time for the AI players to take their turns was ridiculous, this is basically why i havent played it like i do H2. just takes too damn long to play unless its a small map. I hope H6 has made that more efficient.
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nothing is predictable
grow me

Wow, we sure are a hard crowd to please! One day there is a minor revolt because Sylvan faction is dropped, the next day people almost step on each other to get first in line to throw dirt on anything even resembling elves.

And for all the people who are so eager to throw away all the old factions, I must admit I don't think you'd actually like it if UbiHole went overboard and made all-new factions and threw away any resemblence to the old game. The old H3 Forge incident comes to mind.

Quote:I kinda agree. Too MANY variations. Why shouldnt humans, elves, orcs be divided just the same? It would be a headache like this I guess..

Im not sure if the Dark Elves in H5 are more genetic diverse from the Sylvan elves. But so far as I see it they just have another skin tone/color. Or was it that they got a paler tan and red eyes due to living underground for a while and/or be influenced by the dragon god of Darkness?

I agree that the white "Dark" Elves from H5 made no sense. If they wanted an evil underground elven faction, then make them proper drows, that would be much more cool. But I reckon Wizards OTC has some sort of copyright on the drow name, don't know how it would be with the look without having the actual name in.

Same with Humans, the should have made the mages look like Dracon from H3 AB, which would actually suite their arabian/desert setting.

Obviously, they could have made two Dwarven factions also, but then again, given that they are cutting down in the number of factions, it's probably unlikely to have them do that.
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What will happen now?

Quote:And just what would you count as 'goat features'? All the ones I saw had long legs (like a horse) and flowing manes (like a horse).

Sorry I didn't mean it that way, The things I meant where what I first mentioned that "Unicorn should be half goat, half horse. It should have the size and body type of a horse, but beard, tail and hooves like a goat." which they had in those pictures, in other words more then just a horse with horn.(imo at least)
I guess my first pictures where kinda misleading regarding how I meant for them to look.

Regarding the Elf rage; In order the make the elven factions really interesting in my opinion they need to make them more unique and diverse both against each other, but also towards Haven and the dwarfs.
I want the Sylvan to be vicious and hostile, that they keep to themselves and their woods with their creatures. They should rarely bother working with outsiders unless greater things threatens, like a lunar eclipse.
The dark elves on the other hand should be made less evil and integrate more beasts of the underground into their faction. The thing I mean with less evil is they should be more willing to work with others since they know what it is to be outsiders. As a visual difference to the other elves I think it would be really cool if you could really see their dark side, As if they were consumed by shadows. Darkness in their eyes and magic all around them.
____________"You turn me on Jaba"
- Meroe

the thing is... erm, I find the whole idea of the change in skin colour because they are evil just a tiny bit...

well, if you think about it, both dark elves and wood elves are still the same race, elves (who are all bast@rds and anyone who likes them should eat all their man cards), so really, there is no need, biologically, for them to change skin colour. if anything, lighter skin colour is more prevalent in places with little sunlight.

The main problem of the humans, elves and dwarves and to some extent - the orcs, is that they are taken straight from Tolkien with next to no remodelling. This happens over and over again and very few writers/designers seem to have sufficient imagination and knowledge to make changes (Tolkien didn't invent anything himself, he just ransacked some North/Western European mythologies and combined them with Christian dramas). People just grow tired of it (including me). Elves - OK. Tree-hugging arrogant smart@sses - hell no! And so on.

HoMM 5 Dark Elves are more based on warhammer dark elves (druchii) than in forgotten realms or D&D drows. This is why they have white skin, and are acompained by Hydras and Black Dragons. The lizard rider is common for both druchii and drow and the minotaur only appears for drow (at least in Drizzt books they served as guardians), but in HoMM 5 you can find some other similitudes with warhammer (for example, ghosts in stacks of 3 and some designs) so I think this is why they are white-skinned.

In fact I've been finding the last 2 heroes games inspired in other games. While I see heroes 5 having light inspiration on warhammer, I think that heroes 4 have heavy inspiration on Magic the Gathering (Town distribution: Knights and Clerics (white) Nature and beasts (green) Chaos (red) Death and inferno (Black) Mages and Artificiers (blue)), they even are allied with the adjacent colour the same way than in magic, and the wheel is put in the same order, and you can find on their armies creatures that you could find on a magic card of the same colour. The only difference is that the non-colored faction is a barbarian faction instead of an artifact based faction.

At first I though that with 5 factions, this would be the case again for Heroes 6, but the inclusion of stronghold and the fact of that the last faction is supposed to be a brand new one is proving it wrong.